Aspect in Persian based on Functional Discourse Grammar

Aspect has always been one of the interesting subjects for many studies in different scientific fields. This notion is neglected and sometimes confused with other grammatical categories such as tense and mood in the early works on Persian language. Using a descriptive-analytical method, in this study, Aspect in Persian is investigated thoroughly, based on the theoretical assumptions of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) (Hengeveld and Mackenzie, 2008). FDG, with its typological basis, and multilayered mode of description of formulation and encoding operations will permit more reliable comparisons of language systems. The results of the present study show that in Persian there are some distinctions between quantitative and qualitative aspects which belong to two different layers inside the representational level. The qualitative aspects which deal with the frequency of occurrence of an event have no operator in Persian and their notion is mainly conveyed by using quantifiers in the modifier slot of an SOA layer. On the other hand, for different types of qualitative aspects (phasal distinctions and perfective-imperfective) except for the continuative/durative aspect, there are specific operators in the Configurational Property layer. This paper shows how these facts can be accounted for within the Functional Discourse Grammar approach to analyzing Aspect in Persian language in order to propose a uniform description of the ways of representing aspectual notions.